A to Z Blogging Challenge 2020: L Is For...Lancelot and Lynette

For my L post, I will be discussing Sir Lancelot/Launcelot/Lancelet(His name in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists Of Avalon)

I make no secret of the fact that I’m not a fan of the character, though I was, as a child, because of this TV series. You will find some episodes on YouTube. The role was played by the gorgeous William Russell, who went on to play Ian, one of the First Doctor’s original companions. This link is to the first episode of the series, which had 30 episodes and was made by the same company that did The Adventures Of Robin Hood, with Richard Greene. It was made in England, with a British cast, but the writers were Americans who had fled the US during the McCarthy witch hunts. Because it was a children’s show, you were not going to see an affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, but there is no question that she is giving him the eye in this episode. Look at the lustful expression on her face when you watch it! 

Here it is!

Admittedly the language is a bit stilted in this episode, but you do get an introduction to the characters, in particular Merlin who, as I recall, was a nutty scientist who bullshitted everyone at Camelot about his magical powers. Lancelot turns up in his lab and asks about how he knew Lancelot was coming, and figures it out(mirror signals), then notices the unusual fruit on his table, the juice of which he has just been using to write(lemon, of course. Merlin says he got it from “the Iberian peninsula” - Spain). Lancelot promises not to give him away. He uses the juice to write Lancelot’s name next to his seat at the Table, with a flaming torch to bring out the invisible ink. 

Anyway, watch it when you can. It’s fun! 

Here he is. Gorgeous, isn’t he?

Lancelot is a Frenchman, lover of King Arthur’s Queen, Guinevere. He first appears in French romances and may have been invented there. He gets a mention in Erec Et Enide by 12th century author Chretien De Troyes, but his first major appearance would be in  Chretien’s romance The Knight Of The Cart. This is a courtly love story, and probably commissioned by Marie De Champagne, a duchess whose father was Louis VII of France, and mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine - yes, that Eleanor, who ran off with Henry II of England. We hear a lot more about her than her daughter, because, well, Richard Lionheart, King John and her other sons, but Marie’s place was where the whole courtly love thing was big at the time. The idea is that the knight does what his lady demands, however humiliating, and much of the time, he isn’t married, but she is. 

Lancelot, by Edward Burns-Jones. Public Domain.

So, in The Knight Of The Cart, Lancelot is willing to do what Guinevere demands of him, however degrading. On his way to rescue her from her kidnapper Meleagant, he must, reluctantly, accept a ride in a cart from a dwarf, something a knight would normally only do if he was being taken to execution. Guinevere is annoyed because he didn’t accept the lift in the cart immediately. She does some other things to him. Look, you will find most of this story in Malory(which you can get on Project Gutenberg). I’ll leave you to follow it up. 

There are pretty certainly some pre-Christian elements in it, such as the sword bridge the hero has to cross. Meleagant may have originally been Melwas, a character from folklore. However, Lancelot is very much a part of Christian lore. He is, after all, the father of the Grail Knight Galahad, and a major part of the Grail story. It’s ironic that he is not allowed to achieve the Grail because he is so sinful, which involves fooling around; only virginal knights get to do this. But there would be no Grail knights if somebody hadn’t fooled around. 

Lancelot, son of King Ban of Benoic, was, we are told, brought up by the Lady of the Lake, whoever she is. There seem to be quite a few of them around, in the stories. Nimue, who locked Merlin in his cave, is only one of them. In fact, in a lot of modern fiction, the Ladies of the Lake are an order of priestesses. In Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists Of Avalon, the priestesses raise and teach girls and boys, and one of those boys is a lad called Lancelet. Morgana is also being raised there, and in love with him, but has been firmly ordered to stay a virgin because she is needed for the new King’s marriage to the land, whenever that happens. Later, she regrets not having slept with Lancelet, when she finds out, to her horror, who the king she slept with is...

In this novel, Arthur actually invites Lancelet and Guinevere to sleep together because he thinks he can’t father an heir! Really, Arthur? 

Not my favourite Arthurian novel, I’m afraid. I hate what is done to my beloved Arthur in it. 

I do have a soft spot for Lord Ancellius in Parke Godwin’s Firelord. He is a decent enough man, but the women in his life use him. First Guinevere, who just wants someone to cheer her up when she is stressed, then dumps him, telling him to go back to his little wife, and cheerfully returns to Arthur, then Elaine, who tricks him into sleeping with her and makes him marry her when he is exposed to an audience. Despite all, he remains friends with Guinevere, which eventually gets him killed, in the sequel, Beloved Exile. 

Mary Stewart’s Merlin series features Bedwyr, not Lancelot, and so does Rosemary Sutcliff’s Sword At Sunset. 

In Bernard Cornwell’s wonderful Warlord Chronicles, Lancelot is a very unsympathetic character. He is a man who looks great in armour, but doesn’t do much to earn his reputation as the world’s greatest knight. He leaves all the real work to his brother - in this series, Galahad - and pays bards to sing his praises. Even Guinevere only sleeps with him as part of a religious ritual on the altar of Isis(this is not a Christian story!). She doesn’t like him, let alone love him. Later, he betrays his own people. 

Peter David wrote a novel called Knight Life, in which King Arthur returns, not to England but to America, where he runs for Mayor of New York(and retrieves Excalibur from the polluted lake in Central Park), with the help of Merlin, who has escaped from his cave, and gathers around him reincarnations of his knights and Queen, as part of his campaign team. Lance is the name of Gwen’s former boyfriend, a lazy good for nothing who ends up joining Morgan Le Fay(also still there).

I’ll leave Lancelot for now; I really don’t like him! You can’t, however, leave him out of a series about things Arthurian, can you? 

I will just slip in  a short mention of Lynette. 

Lynette is one of those damsels who come to King Arthur’s court to beg for a brave Knight to help save her sister or her mistress from an evil knight, giant, whatever. You’re probably familiar with this trope. In fact, Juliet Marillier uses it in the second volume of her Blackthorn and Grim trilogy. I did interview the author about these books in this blog, and she admitted she was inspired by the Arthurian stories.

Lynette has the bad luck to turn up to ask for help for her sister, Lyonesse, when the only hero available is this kitchen boy called “Beaumains”. Of course, Lynette doesn’t know that he is actually Gareth, the younger brother of Sir Gawain, incognito and being bullied by his kitchen boss, Sir Kay. 

She is furious. “You have got to be kidding! You’re sending me to rescue my sister with a kitchen boy?” But he is all that is available and they set off, with her complaining bitterly all the way. If this was a Hollywood rom com, or even a romance novel, we know how it would end. This being Arthurian romance, it doesn’t end that way. He performs his task beautifully and marries the sister. Lynette gets married off to his brother Gaheris.

Lynette and Gareth. Public domain.

Lynette has her very own novel, The King’s Messenger, in which she had been in love with Gareth and abandoned by Gaheris, who doesn’t even bother to consummate the marriage. Lynette becomes a messenger for King Arthur, and leads a happy life doing it.

The novel was by Vera Chapman, a friend of J.R.R Tolkien. 

Do you have some favourite fiction about our friend Lancelot? Or do you just find him as irritating as I do?